Chinese Continental Shelf (IMAGE) Science China Press Caption Portion of the world topographic map, highlighting the continental China and its adjacent land and seas (Google Map, 2015) to illustrate: (1) the Chinese continental shelf (basement of the East and South China Seas) to be of exotic origin; (2) arrival of the buoyant and unsubductable oceanic plateau or micro-continent at the trench jammed the trench at ~ 100 Ma; (3) the jammed trench location is shown in red dashed curve along the southeast coast of continental China although it is unclear in the north as indicated by the dashed light blue curve with question marks; (4) The yellow "drop" dots are granitoid sample locations with ages in the literature. The thick dashed purple line labeled E-W GGL approximates the East-West Great Gradient Line topographically separating the plateau to the west from the low-land hilly plain to the east. Credit ©Science China Press Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.